In recent years, the image recording material is predominated by a material particularly for forming a color image and specifically, a recording material of inkjet system, an image recording material of heat-sensitive transfer system, a recording material of electrophotographic system, a silver halide light-sensitive material of transfer system, a printing ink, a recording pen and the like are popularly used. Also, in an image pickup device such as CCD of photographing equipment or in a display such as LCD and PDP, a color filter is used for recording or reproducing a color image. In these color image recording materials or color filters, coloring matters (dyes or pigments) for three primary colors by a so-called additive or subtractive color mixing method are used for displaying or recording a full color image, but a coloring matter having absorption characteristics capable of realizing a preferred color reproduction region and having fastness endurable to various use conditions or environmental conditions is not found at present and improvements are keenly demanded.
The coloring matters used for various uses described above are required in common to have the following properties. That is, the coloring matters are required, for example, to have absorption characteristics preferred in view of color reproduction, exhibit good fastness in the environmental condition on use, such as light fastness, heat resistance, moisture resistance, resistance to oxidative gases (e.g., ozone), and resistance to other chemicals (e.g., sulfurous acid gas), and ensure excellent storage stability as an ink. There is a strong demand for a coloring matter assured of good yellow color hue, fastness to light, moisture, heat and active gases in the environment, and excellent storage stability.
A large number of azo dyes comprising a nitrogen-containing 5-membered ring as the azo component have been heretofore disclosed, but none of these can satisfy the color hue, fastness and molecular extinction coefficient (see, for example, JP-A-55-161856 (the term “JP-A” as used herein means an “unexamined published Japanese patent application”), JP-A-6-145543, JP-A-7-224230, JP-A-9-234964, JP-A-9-277703, JP-A-2003-246942). A synthesis method for the 5-membered heterocyclic azo dye has been also disclosed, but the color hue, spectral absorption coefficient and the like are not satisfied (see, for example, J. Fabian and H. Hartmann, Light Absorption of Organic Colorants, Springer-Verlag, Berline (1980), Heinrich Zollinger, Color Chemistry, Weinheim-New York-Basel-Cambridge, Hiroshi Noguchi, Gosei Senryo (Synthetic Dyes), Sankyo Shuppan (1970), Journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry, Vol. 22, pp. 813-816 (1985)).
In particular, the skeleton of a yellow coloring matter for use in inkjet recording ink is representatively an azo type. As for the representative azo coloring matter, a fast coloring matter having a triazinyl pyrazole skeleton is described in JP-A-2003-277662, but a coloring matter ensuring excellent storage stability as an ink is being demanded (see, for example, JP-A-2003-277662). Furthermore, a modification example of the fast coloring matter having a triazinyl pyrazole skeleton for improving the solution stability is described in JP-A-2005-225979, but because of not having absorption characteristics preferred in view of color reproduction, improvement of the color hue is demanded (see, for example, JP-A-2005-225979).